- Brazil
- Peru
- Colombia
- Venezuela
- Ecuador
- Bolivia
- Guyana
- Suriname
- French Guian
Area: 5,500,000 km² (2,123,562 sq mi)
Climate
The climate in the Amazon rainforest is like that of any other typical tropical rainforest. It is hot and humid. The temperature is -194 degree Celsius or the entire year which gets compounded due to the heavy humidity. There aren't many seasonal changes in the climate and the temperature too remains the same for pretty much of the year. In fact the difference between the day and night temperatures is greater than the difference between any two seasons. The weather remains the same all year long.
The plants in the Amazon rainforest
Amazon rainforest plants and animals survive in harsh conditions and in a soil that is not rich in nutrients. Yet, the plants sustain themselves and form a thick canopy layer of the rainforest. There are thousands of tree species in the Amazon and over hundreds of plants species that are yet to be discovered.These are the list of common plants in the Amazon rainforest:
Bromeliad
There are over 2,000 species of bromeliad species in the Amazon rainforest. The most common bromeliad specie is the pineapple. You will find a variety of colors like purple, blue, orange, red in bromeliad plant species. They are found growing all over the rainforest on rocks, in soil and few even growing on other Amazon rainforest plants and tree trunks.
Heliconia
These flowers come in many sizes and colors and are shaped in such a way, that only a few birds can reach them for nectar. They are found in a rainbow of colors, patterns and sizes, making them popular decorative flowers around the world.
Kapok Tree
The giant of the Amazon rainforest that can grow up to 200 feet high and 9 to 11 inches in diameter, the Kapok tree is the most important plant specie of the Amazon rainforest, as it houses many different species of Amazon rainforest plants and animals. The Amazon rainforest kapok tree is used by the native people for its bark, resin, seeds and leaves. It is known to help treat fever, asthma, kidney diseases and dysentery.
Orchids
The orchids are known for their beauty and strong fragrance. You will find hundreds of orchid species in the Amazon rainforest. They are known to survive long periods without water. They produce hundreds and thousands of seeds that are carried by the wind through out the Amazon rainforest for propagation.
Water Lily
The water lily is the largest flower in the world. It can grow up to 6 feet long. Even though it is large in size, but weighs nothing. It can float on water in Amazon lakes and rivers.
White Trillium
The white trillium flower has three petals, three sepals and three leaves. If you chew on to white trillium leaves, it will help cure a snake bite, it will also help a women in labour to ease childbirth, and it helps curing fevers.
Coca
The coca plant is one of the widely used plants in South America. It is said, chewing the leaves will help treat a headache and prevent tiredness. It is also used to relieve sickness, hunger, fatigue and even aches and pains.
Castor Beans
The castor beans are used to help relieve constipation. But, they are also very poisonous. Thus, their use has been minimized anl is used as a lubricant, lotion for dry skin, dermatitis, sunburn, open sores.
BromeliadThere are over 2,000 species of bromeliad species in the Amazon rainforest. The most common bromeliad specie is the pineapple. You will find a variety of colors like purple, blue, orange, red in bromeliad plant species. They are found growing all over the rainforest on rocks, in soil and few even growing on other Amazon rainforest plants and tree trunks.
Heliconia
These flowers come in many sizes and colors and are shaped in such a way, that only a few birds can reach them for nectar. They are found in a rainbow of colors, patterns and sizes, making them popular decorative flowers around the world.
Kapok Tree
The giant of the Amazon rainforest that can grow up to 200 feet high and 9 to 11 inches in diameter, the Kapok tree is the most important plant specie of the Amazon rainforest, as it houses many different species of Amazon rainforest plants and animals. The Amazon rainforest kapok tree is used by the native people for its bark, resin, seeds and leaves. It is known to help treat fever, asthma, kidney diseases and dysentery.
Orchids
The orchids are known for their beauty and strong fragrance. You will find hundreds of orchid species in the Amazon rainforest. They are known to survive long periods without water. They produce hundreds and thousands of seeds that are carried by the wind through out the Amazon rainforest for propagation.
Water Lily
The water lily is the largest flower in the world. It can grow up to 6 feet long. Even though it is large in size, but weighs nothing. It can float on water in Amazon lakes and rivers.
White TrilliumThe white trillium flower has three petals, three sepals and three leaves. If you chew on to white trillium leaves, it will help cure a snake bite, it will also help a women in labour to ease childbirth, and it helps curing fevers.
Coca
The coca plant is one of the widely used plants in South America. It is said, chewing the leaves will help treat a headache and prevent tiredness. It is also used to relieve sickness, hunger, fatigue and even aches and pains.
Castor Beans
The castor beans are used to help relieve constipation. But, they are also very poisonous. Thus, their use has been minimized anl is used as a lubricant, lotion for dry skin, dermatitis, sunburn, open sores.
People who live there
The Candoshi People
They live at Lake Rimachi which is the largest lake in the Amazon Basin.The Candoshi people depend upon the lake for their day-to-day survival.As fishing is crucial to the long-term survival of the Candoshi and their natural resources,WWF, together with the local government,are trying to improve their livelihood of their communities by linking them directly to markets to sell their fish.Thus,they will be able to avoid middlemen and take home more income.
Amer-Indian people
At one time almost 10 million native Indians occupied the lands of the South America Rainforest. But when Western and European explorers and conquistadors invaded the land in search of untold riches, there were less than one million indigenous people, today there are less than 250,000 indigenous natives.As the rainforest dies,so does the heritage of the land and sadly so do the people of the Rainforest.
The people of the Amazon are highly intelligent, even though many have never seen any modern technology.They look between the land and the sky for signs of the seasons, celestial activity, planting times, weather and warnings of danger.
Amer-Indian people
At one time almost 10 million native Indians occupied the lands of the South America Rainforest. But when Western and European explorers and conquistadors invaded the land in search of untold riches, there were less than one million indigenous people, today there are less than 250,000 indigenous natives.As the rainforest dies,so does the heritage of the land and sadly so do the people of the Rainforest. The remarkable human diversity here has over 215 ethnic groups speaking 170 different languages in an area composing 190 million acres of land. 188 million acres of this land remains inside the Brazilian Amazon, in the states of Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Para, Rondonia, Roraima, and Tocantins.
Of these varying Amer-Indian people living in the Amazon Rainforest, one of the largest groups is the Yanomami. Village activity revolves around the main house which has multiple living quarters built in the center.
Pygmy Tribes, include Baka and Mbuti Pygmies, like the Bushmen of the Kalahari in Africa,are some of the last remaining "hunter-gathers".The Huli Indian Tribe are one of many who make their home in the remote highland forests of Papua New Guinea. The people of the Amazon are highly intelligent, even though many have never seen any modern technology.They look between the land and the sky for signs of the seasons, celestial activity, planting times, weather and warnings of danger.
It is an amazing fact to realize it is estimated that as many as 50 indigenous tribal groups live so far in the depths of the Rainforest they have not yet made any contact with the outside .
Interesting facts of Amazon Rainforests
- More than 20% of Earth's oxygen is produced in this area, thus the name "Lungs of the Planet"
- With 2,5 million square miles, the Amazon rainforest represents 54% of the total rainforests left of the planet.
Conservation efforts made for Amazon
After decades of conservation, why is the Amazon still under threat?
- Surely, millions of dollars of conservation efforts should have put an end to rainforest destruction and wildlife loss in the Amazon? It’s not that easy.
- The factors that are bringing millions of people into the forests and the market pressures that create timber are constantly changing and evolving.
- While insufficient funding limits the scope of conservation work, just throwing money in the region will not solve the problems. Organizations such as WWF(World Wildlife Fund ), which have invested significant financial and human resources in conserving the Amazon, have created milestones in setting up protected areas, advising on land use and environmental policy and raising public awareness.
- Support for Amazon conservation, both from within the confines of the Basin and from government and NGO efforts have made it more difficult for the Amazon rainforest to go up in smoke today than 20 years ago.
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